Is it REALLY possible for people to be naturally thin and never gain weight?

Right, I used to be quite thin, but then my diet crept up with me, I gained it. Luckily, now I am at a healthy weight range. I never dreamt of that happening to me, but it's all fine now I'm thin again. I have a friend who is literally skin and bone, naturally. Her mum is quite thin also. I think she does eat, but she is so thin. I'm pretty sure it runs in her family. However is it possible to have a body that never gains weight no matter what it consumes? I know some people can eat heaps of pizza etc and never gain any fat, have a really good body. Do you really believe they can always stay like this? is it possible to have a body like this forever?
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Replies

  • Lorleee
    Lorleee Posts: 369 Member
    I think some people do have genetics on their side in terms of the rate of weight gain. But that doesn't mean they can eat chocolate cake for every meal and not have any type of healthy consequences.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    People who are "naturally" thin just naturally don't eat more than they burn. Either they eat less or they burn more than other people. You may see them eat larger meals on occasion, but it's being balanced out somewhere.
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,288 Member
    Some peoples metabolism just runs faster for longer because of genetics. However, this state is not permanent and will eventually catch up with her with age. I'm pretty sure she just isn't eating a whole lot or is just eating very healthy. I used to be the same until I hit about 25, couldn't gain weight no matter how hard I tried or what I ate but I was doing a lot of cardio too.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
    It is all about the calories out vs calories in some people may have a slightly higher metabolism

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  • fobs13
    fobs13 Posts: 1,080 Member
    __drmerc__ wrote: »
    She eats less that's all, no magic

    This. I never worried about weight in my 20s,30s as used to eat small portions,get full easily and was very active. Married life and slowing down and eating more is why the lbs crept up on me. Any friends I have who are slim its obvious to see why they are.
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    All of my naturally thin friends gain weight. They don't wait until it becomes more than five or six pounds at a time before they start doing something about it.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I ate with some "naturally thin" friends one time. They put very little on their plates and were complaining about being stuffed before they cleaned their plates. I do think that some people naturally burn more calories than others and some people just don't enjoy eating as heavily as other people. But as someone pointed out, wouldn't it be better to burn calories more efficiently? Sure, that means you can't eat everything in sight, but it would also mean that your food bill would be lower if you only ate what you needed.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    edited October 2014
    Those people who seem to eats heaps of bad food but never gain weight actually don't eat all that much. If you actually followed them all day, you would see they eat only a lot at gatherings where you see them, and they may have nothing else that day.

    "Naturally thin" people don't have some special metabolism, they just self regulate well, or work harder at it than you realize, or are very active.
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
    Naturally thin people don't tend obsess about food. They naturally eat less. They don't worry about getting hungry.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    She has magical discipline!
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Some people have higher metabolisms but I also bet your friend is more active, eats less than you think.
  • v70t5m
    v70t5m Posts: 186 Member
    There was an interesting weight study done and televised on PBS? several years back ... the researchers studied several "naturally thin (NT)" individuals. These NTs were placed on a high calorie diet, I believe it was 5000 calories a day. Most of them had a very difficult problem meeting that goal (as you can imagine).

    They did gain weight, but less than hypothesized based on their caloric intake.

    Once they were off the high calorie diet, every single last one of them lost the extra weight in a short period of time.

    Granted, most of the NTs in this study were younger 20 somethings. Their metabolism will slow with age. However, if caloric intake is moderated to account for this, yes, some people can be naturally thin for their entire lives.
  • redversustheblue
    redversustheblue Posts: 1,216 Member
    I used to think this until I had a roommate who was very thin. She was teeny tiny and I thought she could eat whatever she wanted--and she often did. She ate mcdonalds and Sonic with me, and bought oreos and nutter butters all the time and she was so thin! Then I really started to pay attention, and yeah she bought a package of nutter butters, but it would take her nearly a month to finish the package. She ate a couple of them and that was it for the day. She ordered a smaller meal at Mcdonalds and didn't eat a whole lot the rest of the day....no magic, just that she wasn't throwing back the volume of food I was. Eye opening.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
    I used to think this until I had a roommate who was very thin. She was teeny tiny and I thought she could eat whatever she wanted--and she often did. She ate mcdonalds and Sonic with me, and bought oreos and nutter butters all the time and she was so thin! Then I really started to pay attention, and yeah she bought a package of nutter butters, but it would take her nearly a month to finish the package. She ate a couple of them and that was it for the day. She ordered a smaller meal at Mcdonalds and didn't eat a whole lot the rest of the day....no magic, just that she wasn't throwing back the volume of food I was. Eye opening.

    my dad is really slim. I made burgers recently, they were like... 3in circumference? Not that big. He cut one in half and ate that for dinner, whereas I'll have 2 lol.
    My cousin, she also barely eats much and also dances. Can't understand how someoen would be active and not eat much, although she doesn't really have any significant muscle to preserve so I guess I can see why it's not her priority lol
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Technically it is possible if you can't properly digest what you're eating and basically poop it out without taking in the nutrients, so the calories in part of the equation never goes up all that much even though you ate far more calories than that. Stuff like that is really rare though and I'd rather put my money into the "they eat less than they think" basket.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    "Naturally" thin people simply consume energy at an appropriate level for their stats and activity level.

    My best friend is "naturally" thin...I used to think there was some magic to this...that he must have some kind of sped up metabolism or something and was just very lucky. When I started getting more into nutrition and fitness and learning portion control, etc...I started to notice that he generally took smaller servings than I did when we ate together...he rarely went back for seconds and I almost always did...he rarely finished what was on his plate when we were at a restaurant...I always did. I would have a soda with lunch and take advantage of free re-fills...he almost always had water or occasionally an iced tea. I snacked regularly throughout the day...he rarely snacked, etc, etc, etc.

    To boot, my "naturally" thin buddy, while he doesn't go hit the gym or anything, he has regularly walked 3-5 miles per day since I've known him...so about 15 years. Before I got myself back into fitness, I would generally sit around drinking beer and smoking cigarettes while he was on those walks with his dog.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    They probably eat less than you think. Some people just have never had to utter the words "diet". They have that off switch to stop eating, which I lost years ago
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited October 2014
    Some people, yes.

    I had a friend in high school that everyone thought was anorexic. She ate all the time. The doctor told her she had to gain five pounds and she ate as much candy and ice cream as she could. She didn't starve and she didn't barf it up. She ate tons of food.

    She just has trouble staying in a normal weight range. Even when she was pregnant! She thought for sure she'd gain tons, but no. It was still a struggle.

    She's spent her whole life eating and eating and having people make comments about her skinniness. It annoys her.

    She's had tests. She's a doctor now and has read extensively on the subject, lol. There's just no explanation yet.

    Being really thin is not the picnic everyone seems to think it is. The grass is always greener...